Washington Square Music and Austin, TX-based rock band My Jerusalem are proud to present the release of the band’s brand new studio album titled A Little Death. Out today, Friday, June 24, A Little Death is now available for purchase via Merch NOW, iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. To celebrate the release, the band will be performing a 101X-sponsored show tomorrow, Saturday, June 25, in Austin, TX at 3TEN Austin City Limits to showcase songs from the new album that can be streamed in its entirety over at NoiseyHERE.

“The little death,” or “la petite mort” in French, refers to, well, an orgasm, and somewhere between the literal definition and the slang is where frontman Jeff Klein situated the album. “Like any kid, I was obsessed with death and obsessed with sex. Some people grow out of it and start families and become normal people and some of us just stay the same,” Klein laughs. “I’m still obsessing about the psychology behind death and sex.” This duality bleeds through on the album, which flexes a lurid sexual energy, reminiscent of something between Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Echo and the Bunnymen.

Though My Jerusalem has been kicking around in some capacity since 2010, A Little Death is the first album with a solidified lineup. Previously, the band had been more of a collective, with contributions from Klein’s revolving door of friends from previous projects, Gutter Twins and The Twilight Singers, and who had also played in bands like Cursive, Okkervil River, and the Polyphonic Spree. Now, with a full-time lineup of members including Grant Van Amburgh (drums), Kyle Robarge (bass), and Jon Merz (guitar, keys, horns), “My Jerusalem is a true band,” Klein says. Alongside standout tracks like the high-energy “Rabbit Rabbit” and the slowed down banger “No One Gonna Give You Love,” A Little Death is an album that pays homage to a classic era of rock and roll, one that lacked pretension and focused on honesty in songwriting.

“The album has a throwback vibe to it,” says Klein, who spent many nights walking around the time capsule of an area around his rental home in Brooklyn, among the Russian immigrants and foreign culture of the New York blocks. This setting also provided him with the ability to reflect on the loss of his mother and deal with the family and personal issues he’d put on the backburner for years – another dynamic centerpiece that is largely present within the duration of the record. “There’s a recurring theme of fate, luck, desire, and consequence,” he says of it, “and also, how to be more accountable as a human.”